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had not the pleasure of hearing your paper on the 

 Vitellus of Seeds, which I regretted much. It has 

 been talked of a good deal among our botanical 

 brethren ; but few of them are competent to judge 

 of its merits, and those who are disposed to be cri- 

 tics-in-chief on all occasions, have not ventured to 

 arraign any part of your positions. 



Your late publication is lying on my table, and I 

 greedily devour its excellent contents, though, from 

 the professional interruptions I experience, it is 

 only by fits. I do not misinterpret, I think, an 

 allusion in the preface on the subject of Paradise*. 

 When may we hope to see the Lapland Tour in its 

 English dress ? I am quite impatient to peruse it, 

 as indeed everything that is sent into the world by 

 you. 



Yours most truly, 



W. G. Maton. 



* This alludes to a passage in the Introduction to Botany, in 

 which the author observes, that " None but the most foolish or 

 depraved could derive anything from the pursuit of this science 

 but what is beautiful, or pollute its lovely scenery with unamiable 

 or unhallowed images. Those who do so, either from corrupt 

 taste or malicious design, can be compared only to the fiend en- 

 tering into the garden of Eden." 



